Chafee’s unethical choice

Cynics might have expected him to do it, but it is still profoundly disappointing that Gov. Lincoln Chafee has taken an unethical route and nominated his director of administration, Richard Licht, for...

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Posted May. 25, 2014 @ 12:01 am

Cynics might have expected him to do it, but it is still profoundly disappointing that Gov. Lincoln Chafee has taken an unethical route and nominated his director of administration, Richard Licht, for a lifetime Superior Court judgeship (with a starting salary of $149,207 per year and a big boost in his pension). We and others who care about protecting the public had urged him not to do so. The choice — though announced just before a holiday weekend, when the public is distracted — cannot fail to further tarnish Mr. Chafee’s legacy.

The governor’s nomination is in blatant violation of the spirit of a law designed to protect the public from revolving-door politics, whereby someone may use his public power to obtain another job. People in positions of great power are supposed to wait a year after leaving office. To get away with this, Mr. Licht obtained a wrongheaded ruling from the Ethics Commission that his powerful position as director of the Department of Administration is not a policy-making one.

The revolving door is an important matter, because Mr. Licht has been in a position to curry favor with the state Senate, which approves judgeships. His power was supposed to be used on behalf of the public, free of such conflicts. That Governor Chafee either cannot grasp this, or does not care, is another painful refutation of his “Trust Chafee” slogan that helped get him narrowly elected with a minority of the vote.

This is not to question Mr. Licht’s qualifications — although Governor Chafee’s attempt to ram this through before he has to leave office next year would seem to argue against rather than for them. If Mr. Licht is truly highly qualified to be a judge, he would remain so after waiting a year.

Having been betrayed by Governor Chafee, the public now turns to the Senate to do the right thing and reject Mr. Licht’s nomination. We urge Judiciary Committee Chairman Michael McCaffrey (sen-mccaffrey@rilin.state.ri.us) and the members of his committee to consider the public interest, instead of rubberstamping this egregious case of cronyism. Certainly, voters will be weighing the actions of Senate incumbents — and will be kept well-informed about this matter.

Rhode Island desperately needs to move beyond its legacy of conflicted interest and insider dealing, and embrace a healthier approach, particularly when its system of justice is involved.